It Takes a Village

The last few weeks have been a whirl wind to say the least! As the arrival of Baby B becomes oh so real, the reality of preparation has set in. We have been in full force work mode trying to "prepare" for our, hopefully soon, departure to Ethiopia. (As a side note we are still waiting to receive our court date, so at this time are still unsure on when we will leave) And with the preparation has come the much appreciated support of our "village." Between help from our parents, baby showers, and home rearranging we have spent the last two weeks in full on baby prep. And even though it is exhausting we have loved every minute of it. We have to give a huge thanks to Grandma Lisa for coming out for the weekend to help us "prepare" a.k.a; make new curtains for the living room, organize all our cupboards, clean baby's closet, make a valance for Baby B's room, plan a baby shower and in her free time make bracelets!! Another huge thanks to Grandma Fiechtner for hosting a baby shower for us at her house. And to Grandpa Fiechtner for helping Mike put the crib together! And to all our friends that joined us at the shower, thank you for your gifts and presence! The best way to show you the craziness that is "baby prep" is through pictures. So you can see below what we have been up to the last 3 weeks. Here you can see in full force how important it is to have such an amazing village surrounding you!

We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 1:2

We have been working for several months to finish B's "family tree." It is only missing the photos of his family on the circles. He has a chalk board, mirror flowers with zipper stems, and a caterpillar to play with when he gets home! His mommy wants to make sure he has plenty of "art time"

Grandparents are great for helping with the finishing touches like cribs and valances!

And daddy is great for "safety checks" like testing out the crib teething rail.

The Grandmas prepped for the baby shower by making special charm bracelets. Each guest at the baby shower got to make a bracelet! And Grandma Lisa asked that they say a prayer for Baby B each time they wore it. Such a fun and heartfelt way to involve our friends in the shower. Loved seeing all the great designs! Loved even more the thought of how covered our little guy is in the prayers of his village!

So blessed by all the gifts from our friends! And loved all the yummie treats the were prepared for us!

Excited to know that Baby B has so many buddies! There were four little one celebrating with us. Plus 5 more on the way! One of the most emotional parts of the day for us was when Bereket said our Baby's name. Something about it being said by such an adorable little one made it feel so real!

Overall it was an amazing day of celebration and we are thankful for all of celebrated in person and for all of our friend in KC that celebrated with us in spirit through their cards! We were so covered in blessings and love by our wonderful, amazing, irreplaceable village!

Praying we will get to tell Baby B this in person very soon!